This invention relates to ventilators for space below the roof of a building and, in particular, to roof ridge ventilators for exhausting air from the attic of a house.
Roof ridge ventilators are installed on the open ridge of a building's roof for exhausting heated air from the space below the roof. They are often installed in cooperation with ventilators at the soffits of the building's roof so as to provide a ventilation system in which outside air is drawn in from the soffit ventilators, passed through the space below the roof and then exhausted through the roof ridge ventilator. An example of such a ventilator system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,508.
While roof ridge ventilators could be fabricated to extend the entire length of a building's roof ridge, it is generally desirable, both from an economic and a practical standpoint, to fabricate ventilators in sections which typically have a length of about 10 feet. Abutting sections of such ridge ventilators are sometimes joined by supports, such as the T-shaped support pieces 23 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,113 to Smith et al. The joint areas in such systems are usually weatherproofed by affixing a cover piece over the ends of the adjoining ventilator sections such as outer cap 28 illustrated in Smith. It is also known that ventilator sections may be jointed by molded polyvinyl chloride plugs. The plugs generally have a shape conforming to the inside profile of the ridge ventilator and are approximately 11/2 inches wide. The respective ventilator ends are typically joined by inserting the plug halfway (i.e. 3/4 inch) into the open end of a first ventilator section which is already installed (i.e., nailed) on the roof's ridge. The end of a second uninstalled section is then slid onto the exposed half of the plug having been inserted into the first section. The second section is then nailed to the roof over the ridge vent, and the process is repeated with another section.
While the aforementioned means for joining ventilator sections provide relatively weatherproof connections, they are somewhat expensive since they use parts such as the previously mentioned supports, cover pieces and/or plugs. Accordingly, to reduce costs, it would be desirable if a weather-resistant means for connecting the adjoining ventilator sections could be designed that would not require the use of such parts.